Frying food such as potato pieces using a domestic electric fryer is well known in the art. Conventionally, such a domestic electric fryer comprises a container intended to be filled with oil or fat, and heater means to heat the contents of the container.
Known electric fryers use a high temperature bath of oil or melted fat in which the food to be fried is immersed, with the help of a cooking basket, for example.
However, that conventional mode of frying by immersion in a hot oil bath, while being generally satisfactory, suffers from several disadvantages.
Firstly, such conventional fryers use a large quantity of oil to produce the cooking bath. This causes difficulties for the user during fryer filling operations, when moving it, and above all when emptying it.
There is also a risk of burns associated with such high-temperature cooking baths, either by spattering out of the appliance container, or if the user does not handle the appliance container correctly (tipping the appliance over). That risk of burns or accidents is exacerbated by the fact that such a large quantity of oil has to be pre-heated for a relatively long period before the food to be fried can be introduced. This may lead the user to forget that the oil is being pre-heated, and the consequences of such an oversight can be disastrous.
Further, such known fryers are relatively expensive to run since a large quantity of oil has to be purchased regularly (a minimum of 1.5 liters (L) to 2 L of oil is generally necessary to fry 1 kilogram (kg) of fresh potato pieces). Thus, the user will naturally be tempted to save on oil by re-using the oil a number of times, which is unsatisfactory from the viewpoints of hygiene and taste. Further, the user may re-use the oil when the oil has degraded, which may be deleterious to health. When the user discards the spent oil, this may have damaging environmental consequences.
Finally, heating such a quantity of oil to high temperatures releases odors which may be particularly disagreeable, and also may polymerize the oil, rendering cleaning of the appliance difficult and stressful.
Ready-to-use food products known as “oven fries” are also known, which consist of pieces of pre-cooked potato pre-impregnated with oil intended for oven cooking without the need to immerse them in oil.
The taste qualities of “oven fries” are generally considered to be mediocre and in all cases far below that of fries cooked by immersion in oil, which generally have a soft core surrounded by a crisp envelope.
Furthermore, “oven” cooking requires the use of pre-prepared products which, in essence, do not have organoleptic qualities that are as attractive as that of fresh food.